A quick thread on the history of Brazilian nationalism, just as a reality check to Kantbot’s thread.

Brazil gained independence from Portugal in the early 19th century, whereupon the Portuguese prince, D. Pedro I, became Emperor of Brazil.

Naturally, the nativist movement was wary of having a Portuguese monarch, and it was less than ten years before Pedro I was pressured to abdicate in favor of his native-born son, D. Pedro II, then still a child.

D. Pedro II actively cultivated Brazilian national identity, in large part as an effort to hold together the vast territory, cracking down on numerous separatist regional uprisings.

The arts reflected these themes, especially in the nationalist mythmaking efforts of Indianism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianism_(arts)

The Paraguyan War in the 1860s helped foster a national identity among the lower classes who served as soldiers, including alongside freed slaves, and the military gained strength as an institution independently of the crown.

This set the stage for the military coup that ended the monarchy in 1889. One major cause was that Pedro II had no male heir, and Brazilians did not want to be ruled by the French husband of Pedro’s firstborn daughter Isabel.

The First Republic ensued, marked by a system of political spoils, heavy European immigration and moderate industrialization. With this came social movements, including Communism and Integralism, which was essentially our version of Fascism.

The social turmoil of this period culminated in the coup by Getúlio Vargas in 1937. Vargas was a nationalist populist who cracked down on the regional political-economic “barons” and greatly centralized power into his hands.

Getúlio’s 1937 coup itself came shortly after a failed Communist coup by low-ranking military officers in 1935, and was justified in part by a supposed further Communist plot called the “Cohen Plan” (lol)

This period under Vargas was one of strong economic nationalism, with various central planning efforts, the founding of major nationalized heavy industries and the establishment of strong labor laws.

The period that followed, from 1945 to 1964, broadly continued Vargas’ national development project—including by Vargas himself, elected president again in 1950 until his suicide in office in 1954.

One telling undertaking of this period was the building of Brasilia, which reflected both the nationalist impulse—the location was chosen at the geographical midpoint of the country—and the penchant for central planning.

This period was also market by widespread social unrest—how much foreign Communist agitation was going on at the time is still the subject of much debate—which eventually led to the 1964 coup, after which the military held power until 1985.

So, in conclusion: both anti-Communist coups in Brazil happened AFTER and BECAUSE Brazilian national identity was strongly consolidated, rather than as mere pawns of foreign imperialism.